Fairfield County Museum

Contacts:

Website: http://www.fairfieldsc.com/secondary.aspx?pageID=125

Hours of operation:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday - Friday: 10:00 am-5:00 pm (closed for lunch - 12:30-1:30pm)
Saturday: 10:00 am-3:00 pm

The Fairfield County Museum is housed in an elegantly simple Federal style house built for Richard Cathcart in the early 19th century.

A three-story brick structure, the house retains its original heart pine floors and hand-carved woodwork.

In 1852, artist George Ladd and his wife Catherine acquired the building to operate a girls' school. Enrollment reached 100 young ladies before the school was forced to close by the War Between the States.

Priscilla Ketchin and her family made their home here from the l870's until Mrs. Ketchin's death in 1911. Subsequently, the building became rental property, a public school, a hotel and a boarding house.

In 1969, the property was deeded to Fairfield County to be restored. Restoration was completed in 1974 under the auspices of the Fairfield County Historical Commission and Fairfield County Historical Society, using government and private funds. The landmark Cathcart-Ketchin building. opened its doors on March 15, 1976, as the Faiffield County Museum.

The main floor of the museum is maintained as an historic house with antique furnishings in period rooms. Other floors exhibit collections related to Fairfield County history. Museum collections include 19th century clothing and quilts, Victorian accessories, toys, Indian and military artifacts, tools, kitchen and sewing implements, banking and commerce displays.

Genealogy is an important museum activity. Volunteers maintain an extensive library of wills, estate papers on microfilm, cemetery records, histories of area families and land grant
information. Visitors and letters come from across the United States seeking information. The genealogy staff conducts constant correspondence to satisfy these inquiries. The genealogy staff is at the museum on Wednesdays and is available on call.

Traditional events at the museum include community and school art exhibitions and the Candlelight Open House in December. Special exhibitions fill out the museum calendar each year.